Kung-Fu Necktie

In town for a conference I stumbled across this club and found it completely awesome. A true dive with fantastic punk bands and a great group of people to hang out with and listen to music. If you like your music original and edgy, this is the place for you. I was the oldest person by a large margin and felt very welcome. Except for a young couple who thought I was a police officer, the night couldn’t have gone better. And the couple was completely charming.

After a few visits: Parking in the hood sucks, the drink of choice is energy drink, the upstairs is a joke, people sweat their asses off just standing still in summer. Last time I wasn’t let in because my license was expired after parking 6 blocks away with my paper temp in the glove compartment, Okay you got me, I am underage and I’m sneaking in to see a grownup show. The bands that go through are great, but I know plenty of better venues I can catch them at. Most important, the sound system is meh.

If your sound guy has to wear ear plugs it’s too loud. Get a clue. They get a lot of cool bands, but they try too hard to blow ear drums. The beer list is good. The specials are great. Just chill out a little on the volume.

This bar was incredibly packed and it was very difficult to walk around. It was so loud that the bartenders could hardly hear our orders. It is difficult to go from room to room as well.

typical dive bar, dive smell, dive bathrooms etc. 5 stars for their support of local music

I came here for live music and a DJ and I honestly left within 30 minutes. The place is not laid out very effectively– it’s got a tiny dance floor and stage, but the bar and seating kind of bottleneck with that space. So instead of being able to move around, you’re trapped by the crowd, which are not very friendly or graceful. I got really sick of having some fat guy spill his beer on me while his elbow goes into my side and he yells incoherently to some ugly girl hitting everyone around her with her hair as she drunkenly gyrates like she’s having seizure sex with a ghost.
The drinks are ehhhhh. The service was less than ehhhh. The ambience is the equivalent of a dried puke stain covered up with the ugliest tchotchkes in arms’ length.
The acoustics were surprisingly good, though, and the show was by bad at all. As a venue there is actually potential here.
If you can put up with the gross and rude crowd (which make the place really warm and the crowd sweatier and even more unsettling), and you’re here for good entertainment, then maybe you can tough it out for a bit, but I had to pass.
That’s one cover charge I’ll never get back.

I think I kind of lucked out for my experience here. I was upstairs there for Stone Cold Fox, but ended up liking Swimmer a lot too. Never got a chance to see the last band. Unique decorations on upper floor. Crowd I was with was mostly older, more chill, and respectful. Were really up close and personal with the band if you wanted to be. Very small venue upstairs. $ 6 for a band I’d actually heard of that was not local– wow. I could see why this place gets bad reviews after reading some of the other Unilocal reviews. I think this is quite hit or miss, and thankfully for me, March 7 was a hit!
Oh, and opening hours aren’t always 5 PM. They might casually open at 6 or 6:30 PM ish instead.. .

MKO Club is my favorite thing about Kung Fu Necktie. I guess Kung Fu Nectie is normally just a music venue with a small stage but occasionally they throw dance parties. MKO Club is a dance party they throw once a month that plays exclusively emo/​pop punk/​alt rock (think Panic at the Disco, Saves the Day, Brand New, and Fall Out Boy). I have been there twice for this event and had a blast both times.
It’s located a block from the Girard St station making it easy to get to. The drinks are cheap — they usually have City Wide Specials for $ 3. The interior decorations are a little weird. They have a giant 2Pac poster that overlooks the dance floor but they also have a couple disco balls.
Overall, it’s a dive but it’s a ton of fun.

Great music, cheap drinks, always room to dance. I’ll never turn down a night at Kung Fu Necktie! If you check in on Unilocal,you’ll unlock a free Natty Bo.

Went here Saturday ¹⁄₉ for an event and it was so much fun! It was a J. Biebs, Drake, Kanye West, and Jay Z Dance Party! SO MUCH FUN. $ 5 cover, $ 3 city wides (PBR and shot of whiskey) and $ 3 wells until midnight. It wasn’t crowded at first but BOOM at 11:30… it was packed! Wish we stayed until the end.
The bathrooms were clean in the beginning, smelled weird. Typical for a dive-​bar in Northern Libs. Bring hand sanitizer.

It’s a dive, and that’s a positive in this case. Wide selection of draft and bottled beer so there’s almost always something for everyone. Drafts have a tendency to taste a little off-​putting… Which isn’t uncommon in such a divey spot. That being said, one of the best live music spots in the city.

We came here recently for the Air Sex Championship (yes, we did) and paid $ 10 cover each. Definitely a divey/​hipster bar but we knew what to expect. We sat at the bar and ordered a few drinks. I liked their beer selection but every draft beer we got came in a room temperature glass. And the glass smelled funky so every time I took a sip, it smelled a little like dirty dishwater. I spotted a big variety box of chips behind the bar and purchased one. The expiration date was back in June. I shrugged my shoulders and still tried to eat some but they tasted like cardboard. So gross!!! 45 minutes after show time and it still hadn’t started… we were really over this bar by then so we bounced. So disappointing overall.

Barely provided enough equipment for the bands playing. Seemed like nobody was helping them. I also thought you weren’t allowed to smoke in bars in philly.

Awesome divey bar experience in Philly. They bring in music in every field from punk to EDM to ska to indie to literally anything in between. Can’t beat getting a free drink to check-​in too!!!

I really enjoy Kung Fu Necktie but it truly depends which events and crowds are there night to night. I’ve played a show upstairs which was really fun. The sound was bad but I didn’t really expect much. Very divey and a seemingly large metal and punk scene. I have mostly come here for a much different scene: monthly dance parties downstairs with $ 2 and $ 3 drink specials. The inside of the bar is more spacious than other small bar venues in the city. That area is perfect for not-​too-​sweaty dance parties.
I love the DJs and have met some cool people here. Haven’t had any creepy guy experiences and always have a lot of fun dancing with my girl friends until 1am. It’s very dark inside and the bathroom is WAY too small (two toilets) for the events they have. I’ve also had bad luck with the bartenders… I’ve even waved them down and been ignored. This is my biggest pet peeve at bars because I am a stickler for great service and I usually tip very well.
Something that turned me off the last time I was here — stereotypical metalhead at the door blatantly insulted my friends for coming to the dance event rather than the metal show upstairs. Maybe don’t hire someone who’s going to insult your money spending customers! :)
Overall, I have a good time here, every time.

Cool place to see a show. I saw a 9 piece ska band upstairs and a few of the band members had to stand on the dance floor, which is about as big as a jail cell. Still a great show tho. Tiny bar upstairs as well. Imagine having a band play in your childhood bedroom, with a bar down the hall in your sister’s bedroom. You probably had a much nicer bathroom tho. The downstairs is certainly more spacious. Downstairs has a much better layout for a show. The place drips hipster. You can even order a Schaffer like your grandpa.

This place is pretty awesome! The bar area is funky, comfortable and the bar has a great selection and good prices. Friendly and efficient staff! And, as a venue — its small, intimate, noisy, crowded, sweaty. .. in other words, pretty much perfect.

Go here and dance with hot people.
Warning for the brown and black folks: this place is like a time-​warp into the future when Kensington has been fully gentrified. You will be one of the few.

I’ve only ever been here for the DJ parties. They used to be fun but now they get way too crowded, hot and sweaty. I like the upstairs bar where there is more open room and seating. I’d recommend going when there is not an event

What a fun dive bar with one of the coolest band stages I’ve ever seen. With their $ 2 hall of shame beers (the free for Unilocal check in Natty Bo was actually really good), the snacks available for a buck, and the unknown reason for having a case of boxes of no frills Mac and Cheese just made this place all the better.
There’s lots of bands coming daily and service from the tall, skinny guy with the long hair was quite attentive and friendly. Wife and I were here for the Kawehi concert and we ended up moving from our bar seats to the stage area because it was a lot cooler there with the fans going. We both had a great time.
To the drunk guy who cut the line in front of me to express his love to Kawehi and not STFU, go express yourself in the bathroom with some porn and stop hitting on the act. You’re not that smooth.
Kawehi was nice to let me get a picture and I bought a CD. Drunk guy didn’t even do that.
Kung Fu Necktie’s only problem that I had was it did not smell clean… but what dive bar does? Took a bit to get used to but wife and I did. We’d come back just for the atmosphere and to people watch.